Market Analysis from the Investor Signals team.
Computershare has been on our “high conviction” shortlist for the past few months and today’s 1H20 earnings result helps to support our bearish case.
EPS fell 17% on the same time last year. Lower margin income, weaker corporate actions and pressure in the UK mortgage business all weighed on earnings.
We’re skeptical of the company’s reassurance that 2H earnings will improve.
Computershare is under Algo Engine sell conditions.
CPU trades on 20x PE and a 2.6% dividend yield with a backdrop of falling earnings growth. We expect EPS growth to trend towards “flat” numbers at best.
Our valuation forecast is for CPU to find support at or near $14.50.
Computershare is under Algo Engine sell conditions and has been forming a series of lower high patterns since topping at $20.50 in September last year.
We continue to view the market’s assessment of the future earnings growth picture, as misguided. The factors that have lead to the recovery in earnings are transitory and the 20X PE and 2.5% yield, makes CPU too rich for our liking.
Short CPU $17.00
Computershare had their investor day today and the market has reacted negatively to a softer earnings outlook.
We’ve been on the short-side of this trade following the lower high formation and the Algo Engine sell signal earlier this year. The CPU business is exposed to a number of structural headwinds and we expect further weakness in the share price.
Computershare is under Algo Engine sell conditions and has been forming a lower high pattern since topping at $20.50, September last year.
We continue to view the market’s assessment of the future earnings growth picture, as miss-guided. The factors that have lead to the recovery in earnings are transitory and the 20X PE and 2.5% yield, makes CPU too rich for our liking.
Our downside price forecast over the next 12 – 18 months is $15.00.
Computershare is under Algo Engine sell conditions and we continue to see downside risks to earnings and consensus valuations. Bond yields are well below the input levels used by analysts 6 months back, when forming the forecast valuations.
With the stock trading 20x earnings on a 2.3% yield, we see little reason to own this one.
Computershare is under Algo Engine sell conditions and we recommend staying on the short side of this trade.
Our Algo Engine has Computershare under current sell conditions. The stock is now trading on a stretched PE multiple and sub 3% dividend yield.
We expect the share price to remain below the $18 sell signal level.
We’ve been warning about a number of ASX large cap stocks which trade on 25X earnings and 2% yield and, at best, will deliver low single digit earnings growth.
Two examples are the recent sell signal posts we’ve made on Computershare and James Hardie.
We feel that the day of reckoning is approaching and, in many instances, as seen in CPU & JHX, the selling has already started and we’re now seeing a retracement back to the mean, (and likely beyond).
We’ll leave the 150x PE of Amazon, or the 200x PE of Netflix for a future posting, but suffice to say; reality will soon hit.
At the start of the year, the market consensus was for the Aussie Dollar to fall against the major currency pairs during 2017. So far this year, the AUD/USD has climbed 10% and almost touched .8000 last week.
At 1pm today, RBA chief Philip Lowe will be giving a speech in Sydney. Since many exporters look at .8000 as a pain level, it’s reasonable to expect Mr Lowe to comment about the level of the Aussie.
The strengthening AUD/USD has created a headwind for domestic companies with earnings exposed to the softening USD.
Four companies that we follow which have seen their share prices dampened due to a stronger Aussie are: BXB, CPU, ANN and JHX.
Australian Dollar